The most important woman in all of time and space
by Golden Seeker 91
Summary: Story about Donna, and her memories, was going to be a short 1 shot but kinda turned into 3 chapters and and epilogue. Would only let me use 4 characters but there are are few more that make cameo's. Please read, recommend, review if you wish.
1. Chapter 1

Chapter 1

Donna sat by the window in the lounge of sandy oaks, her once vibrant red hair was now a stark white and glowed in the moonlight that fell on her lined face. She couldn't sleep, as usual, so she was staring at the stars high up above, constant and everlasting, glittering like diamonds. Suddenly her face went slack and she was somewhere else, staring out a different window onto city of diamond stretching as far as her eyes could see. The huge moon sent beams that were reflected in all multitude of colours. She caught her breath, she had never seen anything more beautiful. The colours were constantly changing and shifting each more beautiful than the last. Looking out onto the planet she felt happy. She spent hours drinking it in, watching as the moon went down and was replaced by a blazing red sun that turned the landscape a thousand more different colours. Just then someone stepped into the corner of her vision, a young man in a striped suit and trench coat. She met his eyes and gasped, they were so sad several hundred older than his body. He stepped toward her and she immediately hugged him tightly, she didn't know who he was, but she saw pain in his eyes and could think of nothing else to do to help him. The man stood back up straight carving a smile on his face.

"Right!" he said, turning on the spot. "Where to now then?"

He grabbed her hand and she sat bold upright.

It was daylight. She was back in the lounge at the nursing home. It was snowing lightly. There was a hand resting gently on hers. She looked to see who it was and smiled.

"Hello Rory."

"Good morning Ms Noble.

"I had the most wonderful dream just now."

"Oh? Please, tell me?" Rory smiled.

Donna related to him what she had seen, how it had felt more like a memory then a dream. Rory would always listen to her.

"And how is Amelia?"

Rory grinned sheepishly.

"Amy is fine thank you Ms Noble."

"Tell me, I've heard so much about her, but I still don't know what she looks like. I bet she's beautiful to attract someone like you."

Rory nodded earnestly, hiding another sheepish grin.

"She is beautiful. More beautiful than anyone I ever seen anywhere in all the galaxies."

Donna's eyebrow hitched up. Her head began to ache.

"All the galaxies?"

Panic flashed across Rory's face.

"Well, I mean, I can't imagine, even if there were other galaxies, that there would be anyone, or anything, more beautiful than Amy."

Donna smiled as Rory helped her into a chair.

"So, I know she is beautiful, what else?"

"She is Amy, just Amy, she has bright red hair that matches her personality.

Donna laughed weekly.

"Like me then. Though I bet her hair isn't a red as mine was."

Rory smiled as he got her some cereal, sneaking a small packet of sugar from his pocket and sprinkling it on to the cornflakes.

Donna smiled. He was the only one who did that for her. He was the only one in this place who actually cared anything about the people here.

She reached inside her dressing gown pocket, drawing out a picture of an older man wearing a pair of reindeer ears with a dusting of snow settling on them. He was pointing out the constellations to a woman beside him with bright red hair. She was smiling fondly at the old man her head on his shoulder.

She handed the picture to Rory before staring out of the window, she couldn't look at the photo, it was too sad to remember people who were no longer there. Rory took it gently from her looking at the date. December 2008. He smiled as recognised who it was in the photo.

"You are beautiful too." He said softly handing the photo back, but Donna was already somewhere else.

Snow was falling outside. Blankets of it covered the ground as far as she could see. She heard footsteps, a gentle murmuring behind her. She turned and caught her breath. It was the man she had seen before; he was crouched before a small cage which held six creatures. Donna approached the man who looked over at her. Again, her breath caught, his eyes were still so sad. He looked into the eyes of the creatures in the cage, he seemed to understand, with no communication, what they were feeling. He turned back to her.

"They are singing." He told her softly. "Would you like to hear them?"

Donna nodded silently. The man took he hand gently in his and as he did a beautiful and haunting song filled her ears. She felt tears spring to her eyes, she could understand what these creatures were thinking, what they felt. She pulled away, unable to stand it any longer. She looked at the man next to her. He could still hear it, for him there was no escape from that music. He climbed heavily to his feet a cold anger crossing his features reaching out for her hand again.

"We are going to free them." He growled. "Come on!"

She reached for his hand and the world faded into blackness.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

Rory made sure Donna was safely in bed before heading off for home. It had been a long night, but seeing Donna have made his night feel worth it. He loved to talk to her, to listen to her dreams, but he knew, sadly, it wouldn't be for much longer. He had seen this too many times to convince himself otherwise. Donna had days left, but he was determined to make them count, for her as well as him.

He let himself in to his house, no one seemed to be around, no TV or radio was on.

"Hello?" He called.

No response from anything.

Then he saw the TARDIS in his living room. He grinned running to the doors and swinging them open. Amy and the Doctor where there, leaning against the console, breathless from laughing. He cleared his throat.

"Am I interrupting something?"

They both spun to face him grinning.

The Doctor flung his arms open wide,

"Well!" he demanded, "What are you waiting for? Get in here stupid face."

Rory frowned.

"Only Amy's allowed to call me that." He said walking over to join them at the console.

"Missed you." Amy nudged him

"Missed you too." Rory whispered, leaning his head over to kiss her.

The Doctor let them for a few seconds before clapping his hands loudly.

"Oi! Enough of that now. I'm bored waiting for you, let's go!"

"Go where?" Amy asked.

"Anywhere you like."

Rory thought about it. His hand strayed to his pocket and he drew out the photo. He had forgotten it was in there.

"December 2008." Rory said, reading the date from the photograph.

The Doctor ran around the console, flicking switches, spinning dials and pulling leavers. He glanced at the photo before Rory returned it to his pocket. What he saw stopped him in his tracks, tugging the picture out of Rory's hands, he stared at the face in the photo. He swayed on the spot, his fingers grazing the picture, leaning against the control panel for support.

Amy had rarely seen the Doctor so upset. She went over to him and put a hand on his shoulder.

"Doctor, what's wrong? Who is this?"

The Doctor said nothing for several moments just continued to stare at the photo in his hand. Then he cleared his throat and rubbed his face. He turned to Rory.

"Where did you get this?" he asked. His voice, usually steady, was week and shaky.

"From Donna, one of the ladies in Sandy Oaks, where I work."

"Donna," the Doctor gasped. "Donna who?"

"Noble I believe." Said Rory bemused as the Doctor leant on his knees burying his face in his hands.

"Who is she Doctor?" Amy asked, gently placing a hand on his back.

"Someone I used to know, before. She saved the world, saved me too, before."

"Before? Before when?"

"Long story, too long, too painful." The Doctor said thickly before turning to Rory.

"Is she happy?" He asked, gripping Rory's shoulders. "Please, just tell me she's happy."

"She's happy. Though she spends most of her days living in the past, dreaming of planets of diamond and a man in a suit and trench coat."

"She remembers?"

"Remembers what, Doctor?"

"I have to see her. I have to make sure she's still okay." The Doctor said, running to the doors.

"Visiting times aren't for another 3 hours. They won't let you in."

The Doctor stopped in his tracks turning and heading back to the control panel.

"I can't wait that long. I have to see her."

He started flicking switches, pulling leavers and spinning dials. His hands were shaking.

"Right, Three hours forward." He said, starting up the engines.

The TARDIS landed two seconds later. The Doctor raced across the room to the doors nearly getting run over by the 81 bus as he ran out onto the road. Rory pulled him back looking around in confusion. That bus only passed through once daily at 20 past 10 in the morning, the exact same time as it had been only moments earlier. If they had gone three hours into the future there would have been no bus, and the children from the school would be outside on the big green for afternoon break. He looked at Amy and could tell she was thinking the same. Something had gone wrong.

Just then a man walked by with the daily newspaper Rory ran over to him.

"Excuse me? I don't suppose you could tell me the date? Only my watch has stopped working and I can't remember off the top of my head what the date is today."

"18th of December."

Rory paled. "Okay, thank you."

He ran back.

"Three day's doctor. three days, not three hours. We have to get there right now. She didn't have long before, less so now."

Rory broke into a run and the Doctor followed behind. In 2 minutes they were there. He ran over to the reception desk.

"Ms Noble, where is she? I have someone who needs to see her."

The receptionist looked at him sadly. Rory felt his stomach fall into his shoes.

"She is in her room Dr Williams. I'm afraid she is very ill, we this today might be her last."

"Okay." He choked, his voice husky, leading the doctor to her room.

….


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3 + epilogue

Donna was dreaming again. She was in a world of shouting and smoke. People running, screaming, crying. The air was thick with ash and smoke, sulphur burned her nose. She watched as the world was torn apart, homes burned, people buried under ash. Then above the noise someone shouting her name.

"Donna, we need to go. Now!"

She saw the man with the suit and trench coat reaching for her across the chaos. She stepped forward to take his hand holding on to it as the world went black.

When she blinked again she was back in her bed in sandy oaks. She felt week and dizzy. The room took a few minutes to slide into focus. When it did she saw Rory. He looked pale and tired, he held her hand gently. When he realised she was awake he smiled.

"Good morning Ms Noble. I have brought someone who wants to see you."

As the rest of the room swam into focus she saw a man with a bow tie standing in the corner of the room. He smiled at her sadly and walked towards the bed, kneeling next to Rory and taking her other hand gently.

"Donna Noble. What a fantastic name."

She smiled weakly in thanks and raised her eyes to meet his. She gasped. Those eyes, they were the same eyes as she had seen in her dreams.

"It's him," she whispered to Rory, "He is the one in the suit."

Rory glanced at the Doctor.

"What does she mean?"

"Not important now." Said the Doctor gently, almost to himself.

"You remember, don't you Donna?" he said softly. "The fires, the ood, the planet midnight, you remember."

"They are all dreams, just dreams."

The doctor looked at her with those sad eyes. They seemed to have grown older, just as she had.

"No, not dreams. You were so important Donna Noble, the most important woman in the world, in all the galaxies. I owe you so much, more than I can possibly pay but let me try, please, let me show you the most important woman in all of time and space.

Donna nodded. The Doctor gently touched his fingers to her temples and images flooded through her brain. Being trapped by a giant spider beneath the Thames barrier, waving at fat, watching as Pompeii exploded in front of her, the ood and their song of the Doctor-Donna, the library, fighting sontarans, giant wasps, daleks and Davros and becoming half time-lord, understanding everything in all of time and space. She remembered all the happy times, all the sad ones, but most importantly she remembered that she was important. She saw all of this and understood that her time stream was ending. She put a hand to the Doctor's chest, feeling the two hearts pound beneath her fingers. She looked directly into his age old eyes and the world faded around her.

"Thank you." She whispered as she fell into eternal sleep.

Epilogue

The first thing Donna became aware of was a pinprick of light illuminating the pitch darkness around her. As she looked at it, it grew until it filled her entire spectrum of vision. Slowly details began to filter through the light. A lobby of some kind. A man and young girl sat behind the desk.

"Ah!" the man said noticing Donna was there. "Miss Noble, so pleased to see you at last. My names Doctor Moon, if you will kindly follow me I will take you to your room."

Donna followed the man down a long corridor with various names on the doors and after walking for a few minutes stopped in front of one with her name on it.

"I hope you find it prepared to your liking. This is what the data bank believes will be your perfect home. If you have any questions do not hesitate to call the welcome desk. Now, excuse me, have a pleasant evening."

Donna pushed open the door, not knowing what to expect. She stepped into the lounge to find a man already sitting on the couch. He jumped up as she approached his face breaking into a broad grin.

"D-d-Donna!"

Staring into the eyes of the only person she ever truly loved she knew, at last, that she was where she belonged. And as the last phantom rhythms of the Doctor's heartbeat faded from her fingertips she held Lee close. Nothing could separate them now.


End file.
